MIAMI – Somebody’s feelings are going to get hurt. But it’s usually the opposing batters’.

After dominating the Miami Marlins for eight innings of a 4-1 Dodgers victory Wednesday night, Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke was asked if he felt a healthy competition to try and match the team’s ace, Clayton Kershaw.

“Kersh is on such another level,” Greinke said. “If you try to do better than him, you’re going to get your feelings hurt.”

That might have been true for the first few months of the season as Greinke tried to find his way back from a spring elbow issue and a fractured clavicle suffered in April. But since June 22, Greinke is 9-1 with a 2.14 ERA (20 earned runs in 84 innings) that includes just one run allowed in his past 21 1/3 innings.

And since July 8, he has actually had a lower ERA than Kershaw – a splitting-hairs difference of 1.41 over nine starts for Greinke to 1.56 in seven starts for Kershaw (who goes Thursday in the series finale at Marlins Park).

“He’s gotten better and better,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “After that Colorado start where he got hit around a little (a 10-8 Dodgers win July 3 in which Greinke walked seven), he made a little mechanical adjustment and he’s been lights out.”

Greinke said the adjustment was something pitching coach Rick Honeycutt had been suggesting since spring training. It involved getting him “more on line” toward home plate and has added 2-3 mph to his fastball.

“To me, it seemed like he got away from who he was a little bit,” Honeycutt said. “That game in Colorado reminded me of (Cal) Ripken changing his stance every at-bat. He (Greinke) was doing anything he could think of to get the ball down, to get the ball over.

“It was really nothing more than getting him back to what he had done before.”

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton ended Greinke’s string of scoreless innings when he lined a laser shot into the left-field seats in the first inning, the first run off Greinke since Aug. 5 in St. Louis.

Greinke also gave up back-to-back singles to start the second inning, but retired 12 of the next 14 batters. When he gave up a one-out double to Adeiny Hechavarria in the fourth, Greinke promptly picked him off second base. The Marlins didn't get another runner past first base against the Dodgers starter.

“They actually hit him a little bit early,” Mattingly said of Greinke, who gave up four of his six hits in the first three innings. “You saw him make a quick adjustment. He threw a lot more breaking balls.

“That was fun to watch. After that, he was throwing more breaking balls, changing speeds. You saw him having quick innings.”

Greinke finished his eight innings without a walk and struck out seven. It was the 19th time in the past 25 games a Dodgers starter has allowed two runs or fewer. Since June 22, Dodgers starting pitchers have a 2.61 ERA while the team has gone 44-10.

The Dodgers took the lead with three runs off Marlins right-hander Nathan Eovaldi in the fourth inning. An error and a walk put two runners on to start the inning and Hanley Ramirez drove in one with a double. Andre Ethier followed with an RBI single and a throwing error by Eovaldi on a pickoff attempt allowed Ramirez to score as well.

Ramirez went hitless in 18 consecutive at-bats against his former team before a ninth-inning double Tuesday. He was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored Wednesday.

Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws in the first inning against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. Greinke pitched eight innings, allowing six hits and one run. LYNNE SLADKY, AP
Hanley Ramirez follows through with an RBI double to score Yasiel Puig in the fourth inning for the Dodgers. LYNNE SLADKY, AP
The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig scores on a double by Hanley Ramirez in the fourth inning as Miami Marlins catcher Koyie Hill watches. LYNNE SLADKY, AP
The Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez (23) is met by Jerry Hairston Jr. (6) and bench coach Trey Hillman (45) after scoring on a single by Andre Ethier in the fourth inning. LYNNE SLADKY, AP
The Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton watches his solo home run in the first inning in front of Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis. LYNNE SLADKY, AP
Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke reacts after giving up a solo home run to the Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton, right, in the first inning. It would be the only run he allowed in eight innings. LYNNE SLADKY, AP

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